PUCPR Games Course at GDC 2026

According to Bruno Campagnolo, a professor in PUCPR's digital games course, the Game Developers Conference (GDC) is a major global event for game developers held annually in San Francisco. The institution shared the information via an Instagram carousel, as shown in this official post. Celebrating its fortieth edition this year as a comprehensive festival, the GDC provides an environment for celebrating game development. The GDC includes lectures, courses, roundtables, the IGF and GDCA festivals, and a gaming and related products exhibition hall. It serves as a business-oriented environment that promotes networking between developers and publishers and encourages interaction with people from around the world. PUCPR's games courses have participated in the GDC since 2012, delivering lectures in 2014 and 2024. Since 2016, the university has selected students from its games courses to attend the GDC with full support—a program now in its ninth year, integrated with the Global Game Jam Curitiba event. Recent student participants include Nathan Oliveira, Pedro Marangon, Ian Quint, Rafael Alexandre, and Luiz Leao.

This year, Eric Game Muller, a sixth-period student from the Technological Games Courses, was selected to participate in the GDC, which will take place March 9–13, 2026, at San Francisco's Moscone Center. Passes to the conference are available for purchase at this link. According to the university, the selection process was highly competitive, but Eric distinguished himself by building a substantial game portfolio with published titles. His studio, Invisible Studios, developed Au Revoir, a game that has been published and received awards at festivals like SBGames. Eric also participated in The Jam GDC, organized by Global Game Jam, where he joined a unique jam session before the main event. He presented the game he developed, along with another project, at the GDC Festival Hall. Invisible Studios has recently been developing Churrasco, which was recognized at the last PUCPR Game Show.

GDC 2026 Showcases Kepler Interactive's Game of the Year & PUCPR Expansion

In related news from past events, the Game Developers Conference (GDC) took place in San Francisco from March 1–5, 2027, with improvements implemented based on community feedback. The event drew over 20,000 attendees from more than 85 countries. At the 26th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA), Kepler Interactive's game, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, won Game of the Year. The conference covered topics such as ethical AI use, emerging platforms like the next-gen Xbox, and gaming career paths. The GDC Gaming Festival, organized by Informa PLC, occurred from March 14–18, 2026, featuring over 700 sessions across various disciplines and around 1,100 speakers. The event facilitated thousands of networking meetings and included over 300 exhibitors. Celebrations occurred throughout San Francisco each night. Adding to PUCPR's involvement, their exchange program received direct passes from the GDC organizers this year as part of the GDC Scholarship Program. In addition to Eric's pass, PUCPR has secured more passes for previous GDC attendees and an exclusive discount code, expressing gratitude to the event organizers for this opportunity. The preceding text does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Portal PlayersForLife.

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In our latest posts, we've been exploring the thrilling advancements in gaming tech. First up, Ahmed Hassan takes us behind the scenes at GTC 2026 where NVIDIA introduced DLSS 5, a groundbreaking technology that's set to revolutionize game graphics by intelligently reconstructing photorealistic lighting. Check out "The Demonstration of DLSS 5 Was So Heavy That NVIDIA Required Two RTX 5090s" here The Demonstration of DLSS 5 Was So Heavy That NVIDIA Required Two RTX 5090s. Then, Carlos Mendoza investigates the controversial introduction of DLSS 5 and its potential impact on gaming aesthetics in "Will NVIDIA's DLSS 5 Revolutionize Gaming Graphics or Destroy Video Game Art?", published here Will NVIDIA's DLSS 5 Revolutionize Gaming Graphics or Destroy Video Game Art?. Lastly, Bruno Pferd explores the recent buzz surrounding Bethesda's Starfield and NVIDIA's DLSS 5 in "Starfield Revived with NVIDIA DLSS 5 and Todd Howard Catches AI Train", published here Starfield Revived with NVIDIA DLSS 5 and Todd Howard Catches AI Train. Join the conversation on these exciting developments in gaming graphics!